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Facility could provide up to 100 jobs for the Wahgoshig First Nation

An Ontario First Nation is partnering with DelShen Therapeutics to become a federally licensed producer of medical marijuana. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Seth Perlman)

Wahgoshig First Nation, near Matheson, and DelShen Therapeutics have announced an agreement going forward to develop a medical marijuana growing operation. 7:48

A tiny northern Ontario First Nation has announced plans to get into the medical marijuana business.

The Wahgoshig First Nation, near Kirkland Lake, is partnering with an Ontario company called DelShen Therapeutics to convert a former forestry operation into a facility that will grow "pharmaceutical grade" pot.

The medical marijuana grown will be a strain developed in the Netherlands, specifically for medical purposes.

The entire operation is expected to cost $18-million. In a press release, chief David Babin said the First Nation has chipped in $2-million of that cost.

The venture is expected to create 30 jobs during the start-up phase and up to 100 jobs once the facility is fully operational. There will be a training program developed to ensure people from the Wahgoshig First Nation get a crack at those jobs. This has a huge potential impact for a community with a population of 234.

"Bringing a new industry like pharmaceutical grade marijuana to the region gives aboriginal people more opportunities to stay here to work at good, safe jobs," said NDP MP Charlie Angus. Wahgoshig and the proposed facility are located in his riding of Timmins-James Bay.

The Penticton Indian Band in British Columbia's Interior is proposing to build an on-reserve medical marijuana facility that caters specifically to health conditions afflicting indigenous populations. (Ho/CP)​Wahgoshig is not the first First Nation to consider medical marijuana as an option for economic development. In 2014, the Penticton Indian Band in BC announced that it was also developing a multi-million dollar growing facility. In 2013, the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick was working with an American company to build a medical marijuana research and treatment facility.